George Rockwood's career in photography spanned
many years in New York City. Below is a photograph of Union Square, where
Rockwood's building sign can be seen at 17
Union Square West (red arrow), his studio location during the late 1870s
until about April 1891. He later opened a studio at 1440 Broadway.

Across the street, to the left-hand side of the
photo, is a large five story cast-iron building that housed Tiffany & Co.
until 1905. In the 1950s, a piece of cast iron fell off the building,
striking and killing a pedestrian. The building was not demolished but
stripped of most of the cast-iron facade and covered with white brick. In
2006 it was purchased for $30 million and is now being converted to condos.
The developer decided to remove the brick and is now preserving the remaining
cast-iron face by wrapping it in shaded glass (source: New York Times
article in the Real Estate section, January 27, 2008).

The Lincoln statue at the bottom left is still in
Union Square, but has been moved to the northern end.

At Fourteenth Street, Union Square, one of the
handsomest of New York's minor parks, is reached. The park itself is oval
in form, about three and a half acres in extent . . . . Its green turf is
studded with trees, and the walks are well kept . . . . It contains
statues of Washington, Lincoln and Lafayette . . . . In the early morning
and late afternoon the park is a great resort of children and nursemaids
wheeling baby-carriages . . . . The surroundings abound in emporiums of
commerce, . . . the sight-seer passes by many fine buildings--hotels, theatres,
jewelry and other stores--and mixes in a varied stream of pedestrian life full
of interest and movement. The show-windows of the stores make a complete
international exposition of industries; . . . the fancy stores . . . [and] the
photographers; where pictures are sold of the last idol of the hour . . . .

Below a modern view of Union Square.
Rockwood's building is long gone. Tiffany building is covered in steel
mesh.